Main Duties

• Pediatricians diagnose and treat illnesses as any form of doctor, with the only difference being that they specialize in younger people. They perform duties such as prescribing and administering medications and immunizations, determining the extent and nature of patients' ailments, and tracking patients' health progress until adulthood. Some pediatricians specialize within the field of pediatrics, such as surgery or certain chronic medical conditions including asthma, diabetes and cystic fibrosis.
  
  

Work Environment and Conditions

• Most pediatricians in the United States have their own practices, and work from physicians' offices or clinics. They can, however, be also found in hospitals, outpatient care centers and educational institutions. Some work in groups and health care organizations. Like their counterparts in the medical field, some pediatricians work long, irregular hours, up to 50 or more hours per week, which are dictated by the around-the-clock nature of the health care industry.
  
  

Education and Training

• Pediatricians first must earn a bachelor's degree in four years, preferably in a pre-med program. Afterwards, they have to attend medical school, which takes another four years: two years of classroom and laboratory study, and two years of diagnosis and treatment of illness experience in hospitals and clinics. After graduation, pediatricians go through a two-year residency in pediatrics, and then must pass the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) to practice medicine. Pediatricians update their knowledge through continuing education for the rest of their careers.
  
  

Skills Needed

• In addition to the skills they acquire from their education, an ability to communicate positively with patients' parents is especially crucial for pediatricians since some of the patients may be too young to speak for themselves. Also, they also have to be able to work with the nurses, medical assistants and other health care personnel that they supervise, as well as with other physicians.
  
  

Salary and Job Outlook

• According to the BLS, the average pediatrician makes an annual salary of around $161,000 in 2009. As of June 2010, salary.com reports that figure at around $166,000. As belonging to the category of physicians, the BLS expects job employment to rise by 22 percent between 2008 and 2018, a much faster rate than that of all fields in the United States.